Slumdog Millionaire

Crash only won because voters refused to go the other way, in sufficient numbers.

 

That's right. They went the other way. They declined to vote for the lesser picture. They voted for the Best Picture. Crash.

 

I'm not crazy about Brokeback, but it was superior to the bloated, handwringing angstfest that won. Neither held a candle to . . . say, Good Night and Good Luck,
The Constant Gardener, Capote or Syriana. Liked Sin City and The Aristocrats, as well, but the chance of the academy taking either of those entertainments seriously was near zero. And so it goes.

 

Were 'Crash' and 'The Constant Gardener' the same year.
'The Constant Gardener' was such a wonderful movie. I love that movie.

 

Unless the four sources I referenced were mistaken, they were both '05.

 

Absolutely hated "The Constant Gardener." I had heard from several people who saw it that the first hour was slow (perhaps even boring), but the last hour made it all worthwhile. They were half right.

 

Wasn't a great artistic year for the industry, by any stretch.

 

'Slumdog Millionaire' was very good. I enjoyed it.
I really liked 'The Visitor.' The was a wonderful movie.
'4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days' was very good.
I haven't seen 'Kabluey' or 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' yet.
I hated 'Paraoid Park.' Even though I hated it, at least it was an attempt at something interesting.
Considering the caliber of some recent years, 2008 doesn't compare well, but I saw some interesting movies.
'Iron Man' was entertaining and fun.
And 'The Dark Knight' is the pinnacle of human achievement.

 

Was referring to '05, but that's cool.

I love Woody Allen, but Vicky Christina Barcelona strained my patience, when I saw it.
Much less than the sum of its parts. Let's put it this way . . . after Robert Altman's golden run in the early-mid-'70s, he made a decent picture at least occasionally.
Woody . . . not so much.

Liked Iron Man fine, in large part because I've long been a Downey adherent.

The Dark Knight remains the second-best picture I saw this year.

 

Woody Allen has done some pretty strong work in the past two decades:
'Match Point'
'Deconstructing Harry'
'Mighty Aphrodite'
'Bullets Over Broadway'
'Manhattan Murder Mystery'
Those are all good movies. Granted, there we a lot of clunkers mixed in during that time, but a good movie every three-four years isn't a bad run.

And I liked 'The Dark Knight.' I make fun of it because of the ridiculous gushing it elicited around here when it was released.

 

Liked Bullets and MMM, but I can understand that if one is not a devoted New Yorkophile,
these films might leave you cold.

He's done Match Point before, It was called Manhatten Murder Mystery.

Didn't like Deconstructing Harry, a little bit.

Mighty Aphrodite is a matter of taste.


Love the body of work (there are people who don't, but I'm not one of them), and his standup stuff from the mid-60s is the stuff of legend, but he's been repeating himself for two decades, plus (I have a soft spot for Scoop, but
my eyes rolled when we segued into the Death/man with scythe schtick for the 712nd time).